I want to personally thank Monti founder Jeff Polish, his wife, and his small but dedicated staff of volunteers, for bringing the joy of live storytelling to the Triangle region. At a Monti Story Slam, eight contestants are chosen at random from all those in the audience who submitted their names to tell a story. Each storyteller has five minutes to tell a true story, without script or notes, relevant to the night’s theme (last night was “adolescence”). Three teams of volunteer judges evaluate the story according to its relevance to the theme, staying within the time limit, and the general quality of the story, assigning a score on a 10-point scale. My winning story last night earned a 28.7 out of a possible 30!

Last night was also special because my wife Karyn totally surprised me by getting up and telling a story of her own!

Mark Traphagen (aka Foolish Sage) is a lover of dark beers and darker music, of things that are but are not as they seem, of contexts taken out of context to become new contexts, of stories that point to a bigger Story. Mark lives in Durham, NC, with his wife and pet Macbook Pro. He has two married daughters and six grandchildren, and works by day for Virante, an Internet Marketing firm.